


Silver Bullets and Wild Hearts

by Pearl_Unplanned



Series: Cap_Ironman Bingo 2017 [4]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Cap_Ironman Bingo, Curses, Getting Together, Hurt Steve, Hurt Tony, M/M, POV Steve Rogers, Stony Bingo, Werewolf!Tony, Werewolves, Witch Curses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2019-01-17 09:02:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12362301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pearl_Unplanned/pseuds/Pearl_Unplanned
Summary: The first time he changed was two weeks ago, not too long after the battle. When he changed, he apparently lost all control over himself, and there were two times already where the Avengers had to calm a giant, feral wolf and keep him from hurting anyone—orhimself,for that matter.No one was quite sure of how to break the curse, and while Tony locked himself away in the lab to figure it out… he hadn’t gotten very far.They’d been called out on a mission, and against his better judgement Tony went with him.That was two days ago.





	1. Lost

**Author's Note:**

> N3, an image prompt. [My Bingo Board.](https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/pearl_unplanned/76007684/766/766_original.png)

 

                It had been two days since Steve had seen Tony. Up until two weeks ago, everything had been normal. Life had been good.

                He spent most the time he spent with Tony flirting back and forth with the other man, trying to figure out if Stark was teasing him or actually being serious. He flirted with most people, but he seemed to flirt… _differently_ with him than he did with others. It made him feel like he had a chance.

                He was going to ask him out.

                And then that witch had to go and mess it all up.

                Steve wasn’t completely sure where her powers came from, but she’d threatened the team and she’d ‘cursed’ Tony. No one had actually believed her until…

                The first time he changed was two weeks ago, not too long after the battle. When he changed, he apparently lost _all_ control over himself, and there were two times already where the Avengers had to calm a giant, feral wolf and keep him from hurting anyone—or _himself_ , for that matter.

                No one was quite sure of how to break the curse, and while Tony locked himself away in the lab to figure it out… he hadn’t gotten very far.

                They’d been called out on a mission, and against his better judgement Tony went with him.

                That was two days ago.

                He’d heard from a couple of sources that the small town he was heading towards was trying to do some sort of ritual to keep themselves safe from the monsters that the witch had created. She had been from that town, and Steve guessed that it was probably where he would find her now.

                He _needed_ to help Tony, to get him back to normal. If he could find the witch, he could force her to fix him. Then all he’d need to do was find Tony—who had run off, while he _hadn’t_ changed. Steve had been terrified that Tony would leave while he was changed and wasn’t thinking correctly, but he _left_ while in his right mind. He _had_ to find Tony.

                That’s what Steve had originally been doing, but he figured that if he could find the witch then maybe… maybe he could fix this. He needed to fix it. For Tony.

 

                Getting to the town was a little difficult, since it was in the middle of the woods and he couldn’t just drive out there—no, they blocked themselves off from the rest of the world to try and keep some of their traditions alive.

                The issue was that some of those traditions included _sacrifices_ , which is what Steve heard about before he got there. They were doing a sacrificial ritual to protect their town, and Steve hoped that the sacrifice didn’t include burning the witch—he needed her to turn Tony back.

                “Excuse me, Ma’am,” Steve said as he approached one of the townspeople. He had to dress like a civilian who was just visiting the town—they did get plenty of curious visitors, so it wasn’t uncommon—instead of wearing his superhero suit. “I’m looking for a woman in her late twenties with dark blonde hair and green eyes—I didn’t catch her name. I was told she lived here?”

                The woman looked him up and down, wrinkling her nose at him and frowning. “You can’t possibly be talking about that _witch_ , right? She _lived_ here, but she’s never allowed to come back here. Never again. Understood?” There was a venom in her voice that told Steve that she was serious, that the townspeople held a big grudge against her. “So if you’re looking for her here, you’re looking in the wrong place.”

                “Thank you,” he said, a little discouraged. He’d just have to look somewhere else for her, then. “I heard there was a big, town-wide ritual tonight—I thought maybe she would be involved…?”

                The woman scoffed at him. “The ritual is to help keep _her_ and all of her _creations_ away from here—we’re _sick_ of having to deal with her messes. Everyone’s welcome to come to the ritual—it starts at sunset.”

                He wasn’t here for a ritual, though. He was here for the witch—and if she wasn’t there, then he had no reason to stay. Sighing, Steve shook his head. “Thank you, Ma’am, but I really need to find her. She… she hurt someone close to me, and I need her to fix it.”

                There was an almost regretful look on the woman’s face. “Her curses can’t be fixed—no one ever has been. Whatever happened—your friend is gone, now. People aren’t strong enough to be able to control her curses, and they become mindless beasts that know nothing more than _killing_. Your friend isn’t coming back, I’m sorry.”

                The words felt heavy, like a weight resting on his shoulders that was getting heavier and heavier and he just wanted it to go away. Tony couldn’t be cured— _no one had ever been cured of her curses_. He couldn’t do a thing to help his teammate, his friend, his… his crush. Nothing.

                “It’s almost sundown anyway, so you should stay—the forest isn’t the safest place to be in at night, because her creatures tend to live there—once they become mindless beasts, they’re drawn to the forest because this is where she used to live,” the woman explained, gesturing in the direction of the town square. “There’s only one way to get rid of these beasts, and it’s the ritual. It’ll keep everyone safe.”

                Wait—the ‘mindless beasts’ were drawn to the forest? So there was a chance that Tony might be out in the forest? He knew what his teammate looked like, he wouldn’t mistake him for any other werewolves that might be running around in that forest. If he could get him back to the tower… then maybe they could help him.

                They could keep him safe until Steve _forced_ that witch to fix him, even if she’d never fixed anyone else.

                “Thank you, but if he might be in the forest—I need to go find him,” Steve said, watching as fear flashed across the woman’s face.

                “No! If you go out there, you’ll be _ripped apart,”_ the woman said quickly, casting a fearful look to the forest not too far away. “Stay in the town, find him in the morning. The beasts hunt during the night, but they tend not to attack people during the day.”

                Tony wouldn’t attack him… well, the werewolf might, but it wouldn’t be Tony’s fault. He knew that his friend couldn’t control it, and he wouldn’t hold it against him if he did get hurt.

                “Maybe it would be better to wait until morning…” he mumbled, looking over at the trees. It was so dark out in the forest already, and the chances of actually finding Tony in the darkness… “Are there hotels here?”

                “The pub rents out rooms to whoever is stopping by,” the woman said, giving him directions to it. thankfully it was a _very_ small town and it only took a few minutes for him to find the pub.

                If he stayed the night, he could look for Tony all day and have some time to send the news to the team—everyone was out searching in other places. Natasha, Clint and Bucky had all been searching in the area around where Tony had run off, and Bruce was back at the tower trying desperately to find a way to help Tony.

                Tomorrow he’d search for Tony, his team would show up to help, and… and maybe he could talk with some townspeople to try to figure out where the witch _might_ be. If he could track the witch down, he could _make_ her fix it. He didn’t believe that un-cursing Tony was impossible, he _refused_ to.

                Before Steve could go into the pub, though, he noticed that the ritual must’ve been starting because so many people were gathering in the center of town. He glanced into the pub and saw that it was empty—no doubt everyone there were all over at the ritual, so he’d have to talk with them after. Hopefully they still had a room available.

                He was hoping to get a room before the ritual so that he could change his clothes—yes, he looked like a civilian right now, but underneath those clothes he had his Captain America suit on. It was starting to get hot, but he could deal with that for a while.

                Wandering over to the large crowd of people, he listened in to what the person at the center of the crowd was shouting.

                “—and we shall rid the world of those creations, those violent and blood-thirsty beasts, and keep the town safe from her control,” the man shouted. Steve didn’t like the sound of that. Sure, anyone who’d been cursed—it sounded like this witch cursed a _lot_ of people—were violent and unable to control the werewolf side, but that didn’t mean that they needed to be _killed!_

                “What’s going on?” Steve whispered to one of the people standing near him.

                “The ritual’s starting,” the guy replied, looking far too eager for whatever was going to happen. “Those beasts keep coming back here, and the more we get rid of them, the less power that witch has over this place.”

                “Get rid of…?” Steve asked. There was no way that they were—

                “Those beasts have to be _killed_ ,” the guy said. “Only way ta stop ‘em.”

                His blood ran cold. This town was _killing off_ anyone who was cursed by the witch and came to the forest—out of instinct. The woman earlier admitted that they came here, they were drawn here. She didn’t mention _anything_ about _killing them_.

                Tony disappeared _two days ago_. What if… what if he was here at the town _yesterday_ , and they’d killed him, too? Why hadn’t he looked harder, found him faster? He couldn’t _protect_ Tony if he didn’t know where he was!

                The man must’ve noticed how sick Steve looked, because he asked, “Did you know someone who was cursed?”

                He just nodded, feeling like he was going to vomit. There were _two other sundowns_ where the town could’ve killed Tony. This was bad—and he couldn’t even contact his team! He was going to use the pub phone after he lost his along the way…

                “Sorry, but they died the moment that they changed—once they change, they don’t change back,” the guy said, shrugging. “Curse doesn’t come off.”

                Steve just nodded numbly to show that he’d heard before he walked off—he wasn’t about to let this happen to anyone else. He didn’t _care_ if these were mindless _beasts_ —they were human once! Did anyone even _try_ to get the witch to remove the curse?

                Carefully weaving his way through the crowd, Steve headed towards the center where the ritual was going to take place. He’d been ignoring everything that the guy had been saying—something about curing people through death and saving the world—up until the point where he lifted a large sword into the air.

                They didn’t even just _shoot_ the beasts. They stabbed them to death.

                “Bring out the beast,” the man shouted, lifting the sword as the crowd cheered far louder than Steve had been expecting. It was a little shocking—these people were all so _excited_ , even though they were going to murder someone.

                There was a snarling noise as a huge metal box was dragged out by horses to the crowd, dropping the box in the middle of the circle. Steve tried pushing past some people, but everyone wanted to be in the front—they all wanted to see this.

                When the box opened, the beast inside was already all chained up, and several strong men held onto each of the chains that held the beast down. They dragged it out of the box, growling and snarling and fighting back as much as it could—which wasn’t much.

                Steve stared at the beast.

                He reached for his shield, which wasn’t there. The vibranium shield would’ve been enough to break those chains.

                The huge werewolf snarled at snapped at people but wasn’t close enough to anyone to actually hurt them. Steve was frozen in place, staring at those golden-brown eyes, wishing that he knew what was going on, wishing that there was some sort of human intelligence in them.

                “Once the beast is returned his humanity, he shall be released from this curse _forever_ ,” the man said, and the poor werewolf looked very agitated about the cheering crowd.

                The man with the sword took something from another guy—it looked like some sort of herbal mixture—before he threw it at the werewolf. When he did that, Steve tried shoving past some more people, but no one wanted to move.

                Steve watched in fascination as the werewolf tried to move away from the herbs that were now covering his face, but within seconds the werewolf was gone. A very familiar man, looking completely dazed and confused to be waking up in chains, completely naked, in front of an entire town.

                Now, of course, he _had_ to get through this crowd of people.

                Tony, still tangled in the chains, looked up at the man in the middle of the crowd. He was now pointing the sword at Tony. It glistened in the light of the setting sun.

                “You shall have your last moments _human_ , so when you die you’ll be free from the curse,” the man said, almost as a justification to Tony before he _killed him_. The poor, confused man looked like he was still trying to figure out what was going on.

                “Stop,” Steve shouted, shoving past as many people as he could to get to the middle of the crowd.

                It wasn’t like they gave him the title of Captain America for no reason. He _was_ highly skilled, and he easily managed to get the sword out of the man’s hand and hold it up, ready to protect his teammate. “Don’t touch him.”

                “When he turns back—which he _will_ —he will tear you apart, and the rest of us, too, unless you let us kill the beast,” the man growled, his voice low and dangerous. There was fear in his eyes, though, as he kept looking back over at the sword. “Only silver can kill a werewolf.”

                The sword could _kill_ Tony if he got stabbed—anywhere, probably.

                “Steve?” Tony asked at last, probably now finally coming to his senses.

                “Get up, we’re getting out of here,” he demanded, voice angry as he glared at the townspeople. Everyone looked like they wanted to kill him, too, but they were too scared to get close enough to Tony.

                “N-no, I can’t… I’ll just hurt you guys, I know I will,” Tony said. Steve wasn’t sure he’d ever heard the other man sound so _fearful_ , so weak. “I don’t want to hurt you. Just… it might be better this way.”

                “You are _not_ giving up—none of us are ever going to give up on you, so you _better_ not be giving up now,” Steve said, turning back for a second to look at Tony, to make sure that the man knew that he was serious.

                The cursed man slowly stood up, untangling himself from the chains. Apparently Steve shouldn’t have taken his eyes off of the guy who had the sword, because he leapt forward and tried to rip the sword out of his grip. In the slight struggle, the only thing that the man managed to do was rip his clothes in an attempt to stab him, so the disguise fell to the ground to reveal his suit.

                The crowd started whispering—though Steve could hear that they weren’t exactly thrilled with the fact that he was an Avenger. They must’ve been able to guess that Tony was an Avenger, too.

                “Back off,” Steve growled, pointing the sword at the man as he slowly backed up towards Tony. “Come on, we’re getting out of here. This is _wrong_ —you can’t just go around _murdering_ people! What if there’s a way to reverse the curse, and you’ve just been _killing everyone?_ ”

                “There _is_ no way to break the curse,” the leader of the crowd snapped.

                Tony looked over to Steve to see if that was true, but he couldn’t confirm or deny it. He didn’t have an answer, but he was sure as hell going to find one. The genius seemed to catch on to his unease and his worry, because he didn’t look any better about finding a cure.

                “Move,” Steve snarled at the townspeople. He took ahold of Tony’s hand the moment that the man was close enough to him. He waved the sword _very_ close to them, making sure not to actually hurt anyone. “Outta my way. If you even _think_ about trying to stop us, I will _end_ you.” He glared at all of them, just to make sure that they knew he was serious. “ _Now_ , people.”

                When they eventually did move, and Steve dragged Tony right out of the town and over towards the path that he’d taken to get to the town. It didn’t matter if he’d have to fight off any beasts to get Tony out of there, he was prepared to _do it_.

                “Steve,” Tony said, tugging at his hand. “I-I can’t leave—what if I hurt you guys? There isn’t a cure, Steve—”

                “You don’t know that,” Steve said, refusing to let go of his friend’s hand as he kept dragging him towards the forest.

                “I ran into the witch,” Tony mumbled, and Steve froze. He turned his full attention to his teammate. “She… she told me to come here, that… if I come here I wouldn’t have to deal with the curse anymore.”

                “Because the townspeople were going to _kill you_ ,” Steve said, gently cupping Tony’s face with both of his hands. “I’m going to bring you back to the tower—Bruce is still looking for a cure. We’ll figure this out, Tony, we _will_ —”

                “And if there isn’t a cure?” Tony whispered, flinching when there was a gunshot.

                The bullet whizzed past Steve’s shoulder, almost close enough to nick him. Steve quickly put himself between his teammate and the gun before he gathered the shorter man up in his arms and charged off towards the forest.

                “They’ve gotta be using silver bullets—don’t get hit,” Steve said, wishing that he had his bike so he could just get Tony home. A motorcycle couldn’t be able to drive through a forest though…

                “I’m not planning on it,” Tony said, struggling to get out of Steve’s arms. “Put me down.”

                “I can’t—they’ll get you,” Steve said, gasping in pain when one of the bullets hit his leg. Cursing, he tried not to let Tony go, but Tony was struggling _badly_ now.

                “Put me down,” Tony growled, and there was a tone in his voice that startled him. “Let _go_ , Steve!”

                The moment that Steve let go and let Tony get a couple of feet away, he watched as his teammate’s skin started getting covered in fur. There were loud snaps as his bones rearranged themselves, and within a few seconds Steve wasn’t staring at his friend anymore.

                He was staring into the eyes of a _huge_ werewolf.


	2. Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All hope may not be lost for werewolf!Tony. Was the witch lying?

 

                The beast’s lips drew back in a snarl, eyes narrowing at him.

                “Tony,” Steve murmured, putting one hand up. His other hand was keeping him from falling onto the ground. “Don’t go back—they’ve got silver bullets. I don’t want them to kill you.”

                The werewolf snarled at him. He was sniffing the air, as if trying to figure out whether he wanted to kill him or not. It took another step towards him. Steve tried to stand up, but whatever the bullet had hit was _really_ hurting, and he couldn’t stand.

                As he collapsed back onto the ground, Steve didn’t even try to fight off the werewolf—he wasn’t going to hurt his friend, werewolf or not. Steve froze when the werewolf pressed his nose to the back of Steve’s neck. For a second he thought that the wolf was going to bite his neck, but then… then the werewolf nudged him with his snout and whined loudly.

                Looking up into those eyes, Steve wanted to cry. That intelligence that he’d been searching for before, that _life_ , was in those eyes. Tony looked sad as he nudged him again. He lied down, and Steve stared at him in confusion.

                But then there was another gunshot—this time it hit a tree, thank God—and Steve realized that Tony was trying to get him out of the town.

                “You can understand me,” Steve whispered, doing as his teammate wanted. Tony was a _giant_ wolf, so carrying a super-soldier out of the town wouldn’t be a problem for him at all. Steve clung tightly to the werewolf’s fur, and the moment that he did so Tony charged off into the trees.

                It was so dark outside—the sun had sunk below the trees by now—and Steve just assumed that the werewolf had some sort of night vision as he didn’t trip at all. A couple of times he started snarling, and Steve wondered if it was at him or if there were other beasts in the forest that he was warning.

                Steve could feel the blood running down his leg—he needed to get that bullet out, this was going to be a _problem_ …

                But the time they’d made it to the edge of the forest, Steve was a bit delirious. He’d lost a lot of blood, and he swore that he was starting to hallucinate. He hadn’t actually managed to tell his team where he was, but… but that looked like Bucky and Clint and Natasha who were running over to him.

                He gripped Tony’s fur again. “Please don’t leave again… I can’t lose you, Tony… I _can’t_. I _need_ you.”

                I love you.

 

                When Steve woke up, all he could think about was Tony. He could hear Bruce and Bucky both trying to get him to calm down—the IV, don’t pull it out—this isn’t good for you—calm _down_ —but he didn’t want to listen. He was trying to save Tony—the townspeople were trying to kill Tony. Where was Tony?

                “Steve, _lay down_ ,” Bucky said, and the other super-soldier managed to force him down onto the bed.

                Bruce was checking on his leg, and that’s when Steve realized that the doctor had stitched him up and was trying to make sure that he was fine.

                “Where’s Tony?” Steve demanded, trying to control his breathing. Freaking out wasn’t good for anyone, and if he calmed down, his team would answer him.

                “Tony is… in the other room,” Bucky said, pausing to look out the door for a second. “He’s here at the tower—you found him, Steve.”

                “They were trying to kill him,” Steve mumbled, glaring at the IV as Bruce put some more medicine into it. They had to give him high doses just so that it would actually work. “They… they had these plants that made him human, a-and then they… they were gonna kill him. I had ta stop ‘em, I… I had to save him.”

                “He’s safe,” Bruce assured him. He put a hand on Steve’s shoulder and gave him a serious look. “Stay in bed—you lost a lot of blood, and the silver in that bullet wasn’t the cleanest, so there was an infection. The serum cleared out most of it while you were asleep, but you _can’t_ go ripping it open again, Steve.”

                “I need to see him,” Steve mumbled.

                Bruce and Bucky exchanged looks before Bucky nodded and left the room. Steve was finding it harder and harder to concentrate, the more the medicine was dripped into his wrist, but he had to wait for Tony.

                “Hey Steve,” Clint said quietly as he walked into the room, gesturing for someone to follow. Steve just raised an eyebrow at him, confused. Clint looked like he was trying to encourage a scared child into a room.

                A few seconds later the _huge_ werewolf that Steve had seen last when he’d been escaping that town entered the room, looking unsure and agitated and very out of place. The moment that he saw Steve, though, he seemed to relax.

                As the werewolf pressed his muzzle against Steve’s chest, the super-soldier stroked the fur on his head. “You stayed.”

                “Tony’s… beginning to recognize us a little,” Clint said, making sure to stay back with Natasha and Bucky. Werewolf-Tony didn’t seem to have a problem with Bruce at all. “He changed back once when you were out—he explained how you saved him, how you got shot and… and how he was able to keep his right mind long enough to get you out of there.”

                “They said he was gonna be a mindless beast…. But they were wrong,” Steve said, smiling as he hugged the werewolf. “He just needed some time to adjust, see? It’s gotta be pretty traumatic to just suddenly become a werewolf, so you can’t really blame him for being confused…”

                Tony whined and nuzzled against him again.

                “He barely let us get you onto the jet to get you back to the tower… he’s really protective of you right now,” Bucky said. He looked unsure as he added, “He said that there wasn’t a cure, Steve.”

                “The townsfolk and the witch both said that there’s no way to reverse it,” Steve said with a sigh. He didn’t want to believe it, but Bruce hadn’t been able to find anything, and neither had any of them. Tony whined again at the mention of a lack of cure, but then he licked Steve’s face, making the super-soldier chuckle. Even if there wasn’t a cure… as long as he still had _Tony_ —werewolf or not—that would be fine.

                “Every time he’s in here with you, he can actually remember who he is,” Natasha added.

                “I told them that they couldn’t just kill anyone who was cursed… they just need some time.” He smiled and petted the werewolf like he was an overgrown dog. It was getting harder and harder to concentrate with the drugs that were getting dripped into him via the IV. “We’ll help you with this, Tony, I promise…”

 

                When Steve woke up again, he was a little surprised to find Tony sitting in a chair beside his bed, fast asleep, laying on the bed. Someone had draped a blanket over him. He was gripping Steve’s left hand tightly, and the super-soldier couldn’t help but smile.

                A few seconds later Tony woke up—Steve hadn’t moved at all, Tony just seemed to _realize_ that he was awake. “Steve, hey—you’re going to get better, Steve, I got you to the team as fast as I could—”

                “I know,” Steve murmured, gently squeezing his hand. “I know, Tony. I was a little out of it a while ago, but I remember. You… you’re able to _think_ while you’re a werewolf now.”

                Tony shrugged and looked away. The poor man looked like he wanted to disappear, just at the mention of the word ‘werewolf.’ He looked nothing like the genius that Steve was so used to—the confident man with the snarky smile and the arrogant attitude, the man that he’d fallen for. No, Tony looked scared, cautious and worried, like Steve was going to just _reject_ him because of the curse.

                “A little,” Tony mumbled. “I can recognize you, and Bruce… and Clint and Natasha some, and I’m still trying to recognize Bucky right away… I can’t think clearly yet, but I… I don’t think I’m going to hurt anyone. Not like… not like when this first happened.”

                “You never hurt anyone,” Steve reminded him calmly, wishing that he could just drag Tony onto the bed and hug him. Tony glanced over at him like he knew what he was thinking. “I think everyone was a bit surprised at first, but you _never_ hurt anyone.”

                Tony just shrugged. Steve sighed, gripping his hand a little tighter before he pulled, and Tony got up and came closer. Steve captured his teammate in a hug, pulling him down onto the bed.

                “I was so worried that I was going to lose you,” Steve whispered. He’d spent two days fearing what might’ve happened to his teammate, and then to find him captured by the townspeople and nearly killed? What if he’d come to town a little earlier, and had just _left_ before the ritual? They would’ve _killed_ Tony! “Why’d you leave?”

                “I didn’t want to hurt anyone… and I was having trouble keeping control, so I thought it would be better… plus something was telling me to go there—I tracked the witch down, but… she couldn’t help me,” Tony admitted, and Steve was just glad that he didn’t try to pull away. “If I couldn’t recognize you guys and attacked you again… I thought if I found the witch I could make her turn me back, but… but I couldn’t.”

                Tony pulled back a little and looked him right in the eye, those stunning brown eyes of his holding a concerned look. “Did you mean it?” Steve raised an eyebrow, confused, so Tony added, “When the team was coming over to get you, and you… you said not to leave, because you didn’t want to lose me… a-and because you loved me.”

                “I said that?” Steve asked—he’d _thought_ it, he had never _stopped_ thinking it, but he’d actually said it? Tony looked crestfallen, probably jumping to his own conclusions, so Steve just held him in place and smiled at him. “I did mean it—I was sorta hoping that I’d tell you when you could actually answer back, but… I do love you, Tony.”

                The genius just stared at him blankly. That was the look that he got when he was trying to process something that he didn’t quite understand, and Steve knew to be patient with him. Instead of saying anything, Tony chose to just hug him tightly again.

                “I thought you were going to bleed out before I could get you to the team,” Tony mumbled. His hands were shaking. “I wanted to kill _all_ of them, Steve. I almost went to… to _kill_ everyone.”

                “But you didn’t,” Steve pointed out.

                “Because you were _dying_ ,” Tony replied. It was easy to see his self-hatred, and it hurt Steve a little. He hated that Tony could never see how wonderful of a person he was, and now that he had to deal with the fact that he was cursed, too. “If you hadn’t been hurt, I might’ve attacked you too! But you were just a hurt human, a-and then I had a chance to recognize you, and then the team was there so it was easier to recognize all of them…”

                Tony pulled back again and held his gaze. “My, uh… _condition_ isn’t enough to send you running for the hills?”

                “Nope,” Steve replied honestly, watching Tony process that information, too.

                When the man seemed to come to the conclusion that Steve _did_ care for him, and he _didn’t_ care that sometimes he turned into a werewolf, he leaned back down and closed his eyes. Steve grinned, leaning up off the bed to give Tony a kiss.

                While he hadn’t been sure how the other man felt, apparently all the flirting really _was_ for a reason. He gently cupped Tony’s face, holding him there as they broke apart. There was still a look of fear in Tony’s eyes, but he looked like he at least understood that Steve cared for him.

                “Can we go out sometime? I mean if you really are interested, then maybe…” Tony mumbled. In that moment, Steve swore that he was going to make sure that Tony was eventually able to be his confident self again, that he was going to help him with the werewolf side until he was comfortable with it.

                “Friday, perhaps? Maybe by then Bruce will tell me that I’m fine,” Steve said. The serum would make sure he’d be fine within a day if he wasn’t already, but Bruce liked to watch them for an extra day or two longer just to make sure. He never let his teammates out into battle if they weren’t completely healed, or at least up to his standard of ‘fine enough to battle.’

                “Friday’s good.” Tony offered a hand to help him up, and Steve followed him out into the main room of the tower. The rest of the team was out there—no doubt giving him and Tony a little space to talk, seeing as they had all been teasing them about being in love for quite some time now.

                “I wish that I’d gotten chance to ask you out before all of this happened,” Steve said, gripping Tony’s hand. “I know that you’re still confused and unsure about this, but I need you to know that there’s one thing that’s for sure: the team will always be here for you, and _I_ will _always_ be here, whenever you need me. I don’t want you to even question the fact that I care about you.”

                Tony nodded, and he actually looked like he’d understood this time. In fact, he looked like the past several days hadn’t happened, like he was the same Tony from before the curse. “I love you too, Steve. And I do want to try this. It’ll be a bit difficult with me… turning into a werewolf every now and again, but…”

                “We’ll deal with that—you’re recognizing us, and maybe… maybe the other cursed people will be able to start to remember, too,” Steve said, though there was a pain inside at the thought of it. How many people had died because of those peoples’ ignorance?

                “The team called S.H.I.E.L.D. and sent them to that town,” Tony said quickly. “That’s what Bruce said. They’re going to… stop that from happening again.” Tony grinned. “I never got to say thank you—if you weren’t there, they would’ve killed me. I didn’t even realize what they were doing until that guy almost stabbed me!”

                “Always,” Steve promised. “I’ll _always_ be there for you. That’s not something you ever have to worry about—werewolf or not, that’s something that’s not going to change.”

                While Tony still seemed cautious, Steve caught the glimmer of hope in his eyes as he leaned back down to hug Steve tightly again.

                They were going to make it, no matter what challenges they had to face, and no curse could ever change that.


End file.
